Sabaku
, often called , is the leader of the Desert Apostles, who wished to kill the Tree of Hearts. He is usually seen sitting on a chair on a high level in the Desert Apostles' base, always having his right-hand Dark Cure by his side. He is never seen without his mask. His personality has not been shown properly, however, he wishes to finish off the newest generation of Pretty Cure in order to take down the Tree of Hearts. He's actually , the long lost father of Tsukikage Yuri. History Fight Before the Tree of Hearts It is unknown how old Sabaku is and how long he has been planning to take over the Tree of Hearts, but it seems like Hanasaki Kaoruko knows who he is, which might mean that they have met, though it has not been stated. Some time shortly before the present story line, Sabaku watches as Dark Cure fights Cure Moonlight before the Tree of Hearts, now having come to his goal of taking control of it. When he witnesses Cure Moonlight's defeat, he is surprised to see that the Tree of Hearts has not died even though all of its flowers have fallen off. Cure Moonlight tells him that as long as Pretty Cure exist, the Tree of Hearts will never die. Sabaku allows Dark Cure to finish her off, but notices that two fairies, Chypre and Coffret, have escaped with two new Heart Perfumes, which are one of the items for Pretty Cure. After watching Cure Moonlight lose her Pretty Cure Seed, Sabaku orders Sasorina to find and take the Heart Perfumes to him. New Pretty Cure Soon, when Sasorina appears before him to report, he is told by her that a new Pretty Cure has appeared; a Cure named Cure Blossom who is said by her to be one of the weakest Cures in history, which makes him let her try once again to get rid of her, knowing that he will never conquer the Tree of Hearts as long as there are Cures in existence. However, soon a second Cure join the new Pretty Cure: Cure Marine, who Sasorina claims is somewhat stronger than Cure Blossom, although Sabaku listens to Kumojaki's claim that not even a hundred Cures can win against him, and lets Kumojaki try to defeat Pretty Cure in Sasorina's place. When Kumojaki fails, Sabaku tells Cobraja to try defeating Pretty Cure. After a long time with defeat after defeat from the Desert Messengers, Sabaku tells a Snackey to report to Cobraja that he must hurry to defeat Pretty Cure, as his patience is wearing . Finally, Sabaku is tired of watching his henchmen fail, and orders Dark Cure herself to meet up with the new Pretty Cure. Behind the Mask When the Cures arrive on Castle Planet to rescue Kaoruko, Sabaku goes to see Kaoruko while she is imprisoned. Kaoruko asks Sabaku why he created Dark Cure to be the opposite to Cure Moonlight. Sabaku, not giving a clear answer, leaves to help Dark Cure defeat Cure Moonlight. As Cure Moonlight and Dark Cure fight, Sabaku starts to shoot a powerful dark energy blast at Cure Moonlight. Cure Blossom, with Chypre attached to her allowing her to fly, attacks Sabaku, following the request from her grandmother to not allow them to fight. During the battle Chypre detaches from Cure Blossom and lunges at Sabaku's face. As he pulls her away from his face he sees Cure Moonlight about to make the final blow against Dark Cure. He immediately lunges himself in the path of the attack to save Dark Cure and takes the hit. As the dust settles Sabaku's mask falls to the floor revealing he is Cure Moonlight's missing father. He then reveals how he created Dark Cure. After Dark Cure fell to the power of Cure Moonlight, Sabaku explains to Cure Moonlight how Dark Cure is her younger sister as he created her from a piece of Yuri. As Dark Cure dies in Sabaku's arms, a confused Moonlight watches. Dune quickly arrives and is unimpressed with the failure of Sabaku and Dark Cure. Dune explained to both Yuri and Tsubomi that Yuri's father is been researching about the Tree of Hearts in France until he met two Mysterious people working for Dune, giving him the mask and brainwashing him. As Yuri can't forgive what Dune has done to her father, the two begin to battle. Not willing to lose her father again Cure Moonlight joins him in fighting Dune shortly followed by Cure Blossom. The three fight Dune but his power is too much and he hits the trio with a massive amount of dark energy, causing Moonlight and Blossom to revert to their glowing dressings. Dune prepares to make the move to destroy all three, but Sabaku runs to the ball of energy preparing to use himself as a shield. He bids his farewell to Yuri and tells her to look after her mother, then with a blinding flash from the exploding energy Sabaku is destroyed leaving only tatters of his clothes. Relationships Tsukikage Yuri - While they are viewed as enemies in the season's prologue, the opening sets Sabaku and Cure Moonlight together, hinting of a special relationship between them. This relationship is not revealed to be more than that of nemesity. Although during a conversation with Kaoruko after she captured, Sabaku shows surprise and later anger when Kaoruko refers Moonlight as Yuri-chan rather then by her Cure name. However in episode 47 it was revealed that Sabaku is Yuri's long lost father, and he was willing to sacrifice his own life for Yuri's sake. Dark Cure - Sabaku seemed to trust Dark Cure whenever he wants to get something done. In the beginning of the season, it was not known if Sabaku was willing to sacrifice her in order to take control of the Tree of Hearts when the rest of Pretty Cure were defeated. He did consider her more important then the Desert Apostles as shown when Cure Moonlight managed to knock Dark Cure out. Before Moonlight had a chance to end the battle for good, Sabaku appeared and removed Dark Cure from the battlefield. It was later said that Dark Cure was made from a piece of Tsukikage Yuri, hence she was his non-biological child. Desert Apostles - Unlike how he treated Dark Cure, Sabaku did not seem to be as close with the rest of the Desert Apostles, mostly just seeing them whenever they reported to him or asked him for permission to defeat the Pretty Cure. However, he never blamed the Desert Apostles for their failures. Etymology Sabaku's name is based of the Japanese word "sabaku" (砂漠) which means "desert". Trivia *Sabaku is the first parent of a Pretty Cure to be a villain, the second being Mephisto. Coincidentally, both were brainwashed. *According to the Heartcatch Pretty Cure novelisation, Professor Sabaku's real name is Tsukikage Hideaki. Gallery Category:Heartcatch Pretty Cure!